Official Football Manager 2015 Pre Release Beta Feedback Thread - Update 15.0.3

[Firehouse 81]

Strikers (and other players too) seem to be too slow rushing into counter-attack. For instance, I have my two wingers and my striker with 15+ pace and acceleration, and have very good first touch, but they seem to dwell on the ball and the opponent defenders (pace, acc ~ 10) easily catch them up and take the ball from them. I do realise that player with a ball to control is slowed by the ball, but it's not just the pace of their run, they should react faster.

[Os 91]

The game seems a bit too easy this year.

[HaroldHammond 13]

Guys is it possible to have the Boxes on the match screen (Formations, league table, live scores etc) disappear or fade when a highlight is playing so they don't take up pitch space? betweeen highlights they would be normal

[stephen123 10]

Still a goal every second attack. Just drew 3 all. People will say it's my tactics, but when there's a stupid amount of goals every single game, it just becomes disheartening. It feels like no matter what I do, there's gonna be loads and loads of goals. Makes you feel sort of helpless and annoyed.

Results since the update: 1-4, 3-5, 2-1, 3-3, 1-1, 2-1, 0-3, 3-3

Blame my tactics or whatever but this is a bit much, even if I play defensive, every game just seems ridiculously open, nearly every extended hilight is a big chance. I'm hopefull it will be tweaked/fixed by full release.

[Auqakuh 10]

When changing tactics in-match, the grey "Making tactical changes" flashes on and off about 5 times instead of staying on until the changes are made.

[Schotsmannetje 10]

What are the black stars in 'potential' when scouting young players?

Does this show what they could achieve even though it's unlikely?

I don't know if you've had a reply yet, but I'll respond nonetheless: Black stars simply mean that they're not sure yet.

[RTHerringbone 1,031]

When changing tactics in-match, the grey "Making tactical changes" flashes on and off about 5 times instead of staying on until the changes are made.

This has been reported in the Bugs Forum tonight - please add your example to this thread:

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/404331-making-team-changes-problem.

[Schotsmannetje 10]

When changing tactics in-match, the grey "Making tactical changes" flashes on and off about 5 times instead of staying on until the changes are made.

Seconded. Noticed that too.

[daylight 2,614]

Still a goal every second attack. Just drew 3 all. People will say it's my tactics, but when there's a stupid amount of goals every single game, it just becomes disheartening. It feels like no matter what I do, there's gonna be loads and loads of goals. Makes you feel sort of helpless and annoyed.

Results since the update: 1-4, 3-5, 2-1, 3-3, 1-1, 2-1, 0-3, 3-3

Blame my tactics or whatever but this is a bit much, even if I play defensive, every game just seems ridiculously open, nearly every extended hilight is a big chance. I'm hopefull it will be tweaked/fixed by full release.

Every extended highlight is a big chance, it has been like that for a few years now, it got changed from 'key' to 'extended' I think 3 or 4 years ago now, if you watch 'key' it is almost always a goal.

I am not saying it is your tactics, it could just be you have open games but I am not having this, yes I did just win a game 4-0 but the game before that was a boring 0-0 and the 1 before was 0-2.

Maybe tinker a bit with your tactic or just keep going to see if how the scores pan out, it could just be a phase.

[stephen123 10]

Every extended highlight is a big chance, it has been like that for a few years now, it got changed from 'key' to 'extended' I think 3 or 4 years ago now, if you watch 'key' it is almost always a goal.

I am not saying it is your tactics, it could just be you have open games but I am not having this, yes I did just win a game 4-0 but the game before that was a boring 0-0 and the 1 before was 0-2.

Maybe tinker a bit with your tactic or just keep going to see if how the scores pan out, it could just be a phase.

But with my games, they never seem to be cagey affairs where it could go to the last 10 minutes before someone nicks the win. It seems to be which team can score more than the other, I score then you score or whatever. FM14 was absolutely fine, I never really noticed anything wrong with it, obviously a good thing.

[cleaner475 12]

Still a goal every second attack. Just drew 3 all. People will say it's my tactics, but when there's a stupid amount of goals every single game, it just becomes disheartening. It feels like no matter what I do, there's gonna be loads and loads of goals. Makes you feel sort of helpless and annoyed.

Results since the update: 1-4, 3-5, 2-1, 3-3, 1-1, 2-1, 0-3, 3-3

Blame my tactics or whatever but this is a bit much, even if I play defensive, every game just seems ridiculously open, nearly every extended hilight is a big chance. I'm hopefull it will be tweaked/fixed by full release.

Like daylight said, it'll depend on your highlight mode. You're games don't seem that very high scoring, just a bit above average, but I have no idea what league you're playing in and what your tactics are. Some leagues are more attacking than others and some tactics will allow you to score and concede a lot of goals.

Personally that's not what I've experienced, even pre-update I didn't have loads of games with more than 5 or 6 goals, I even managed to keep quite a few clean sheets. It's hard to suggest anything though as you haven't given us much information.

[Wlv 1]

Why does my keeper have a 0.1 rating? He wasn't THAT bad

[RTHerringbone 1,031]

Why does my keeper have a 0.1 rating? He wasn't THAT bad

Could you upload a .pkm to this thread please?

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/404268-Reviewed-GK-with-0.1-rating

[moyesout 20]

In terms of difficulty, are people finding it easier or more difficult than FM14?

[Wlv 1]

Could you upload a .pkm to this thread please?

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/404268-Reviewed-GK-with-0.1-rating

Thanks & have just posted on that thread (with a PKM)

[Kriss 3]

Still a goal every second attack. Just drew 3 all. People will say it's my tactics, but when there's a stupid amount of goals every single game, it just becomes disheartening. It feels like no matter what I do, there's gonna be loads and loads of goals. Makes you feel sort of helpless and annoyed.

Results since the update: 1-4, 3-5, 2-1, 3-3, 1-1, 2-1, 0-3, 3-3

Blame my tactics or whatever but this is a bit much, even if I play defensive, every game just seems ridiculously open, nearly every extended hilight is a big chance. I'm hopefull it will be tweaked/fixed by full release.

My results since the update;

4-2-3-1 narrow, standard, flexible no individual instructions whatsoever.

[Jaymo_Millwall 10]

I seem to be letting in more goals than i did before the update

[Kriss 3]

I seem to be letting in more goals than i did before the update

Seem means nothing except that it might just be in your head, only facts count.

But you should always be prepared to tweak things after an update.

[Jaymo_Millwall 10]

Going to be hard to prove that at the minute as ive just been promoted. Bound to get slaughtered first season

[Francis Mooney 181]

Like daylight said, it'll depend on your highlight mode. You're games don't seem that very high scoring, just a bit above average, but I have no idea what league you're playing in and what your tactics are. Some leagues are more attacking than others and some tactics will allow you to score and concede a lot of goals.

Personally that's not what I've experienced, even pre-update I didn't have loads of games with more than 5 or 6 goals, I even managed to keep quite a few clean sheets. It's hard to suggest anything though as you haven't given us much information.

Averages at 4.5 goals a game, that's way above average! (But a rubbish sample size).

[srvngrc 181]

A gk issue.. Just have a look

http://forum.turksportal.net/vb/showpost.php?p=2701418&postcount=512

[Schotsmannetje 10]

Yeah my striker finally ended his goal draught after the update haha.

[isignedupfornorealreason 201]

I caught a very amusing 'bug'...

Chelsea V Manchester United (3-4) <- hell of a game!

When Chelsea counter attacked to score their third goal, they went down the right wing with Hazard. My fullback tracked across and shadowed him all the way over. My near side centre back though, decided to 'backpedal' all the way from the halfway line to the box, in fact even when Hazard got past him he didn't turn around and sprint, it looked a bit daft.

---

Other minor thing I'd like to see one day;

Get rid of the players holding the ball and then 'shadowing' it away from people closing him down. All it does is make them face away from goal and act like buffoons, they'll still pass (usually backwards), but a lot of the time IRL, you'll see players release the ball before they get closed down rather than spin on it and 'defend' it non-stop.

[daylight 2,614]

My results since the update;

4-2-3-1 narrow, standard, flexible no individual instructions whatsoever.

The funny thing is Kriss, if other people had that stretch of 6 games with 5 low or no scoring draws they would be on here stating "WTH almost every game is now a draw and not enough goals!!1!".

[Schotsmannetje 10]

Is it just me or is saving the game taking a lot longer after the update? Or is my pc doing things I'm not aware of? (recently I have been considering switching back to Mac for that very reason)

[cleaner475 12]

Averages at 4.5 goals a game, that's way above average! (But a rubbish sample size).

I meant with regards to it being all that likely, I could see a run of games with those scores but a couple seem too high, 5-3 games are relatively rare as Man United can testify

Obviously it's higher than average for a league season but like you said, it's a very small sample size

[mmitch19 5]

Joined a club midway through the season. Two things seemed strange.

1. There is a pre arranged transfer for the end of the season, but the club appears to have no scouting knowledge of him. No report card available and most of his attributes have a 4 point range. I've retained all the old staff, so the knowledge shouldn't have left with the previous manager.

2. Being midway through the season, I figured I wouldn't try and impose my normal tactics straight off, but build from the current base. However apart from appearing to be competent at 442 the squad appear to be awkward at everything else, any level of closing down, creativity etc.

It's not normal for me to join a club mid season - I've always stayed generally at one club. I'm therefore not clear if these are bugs or suggestions!

[vasilli07 60]

The 2D pitch looks perfect now.

[JimmyGuitarist 15]

Why is the closing down so lacklustre? Is it impossible to achieve what so many teams in real life are doing now? Playing a high pressing game - and not just the top teams like lots assume. Southampton, Rayo Vallecano, Celta Vigo, Marseille, Chile etc etc. are all doing it.

Much More Closing Down, Much Higher Defensive Line, Offside Trap etc - I waited for the tactic to become fully fluid before judging but the closing down is still basically walking up to the opponent with possession whilst flailing their arms about a bit. There's just no intensity to it what so ever. There's a bit of pressing after the immediate loss of possession, albeit still lacklustre, but I'm talking about when opponents are constructing play (trying to build up). By the time they develop play into our half of the pitch, we become a parked bus. Not what I expect from the instructions I'm using.

[kamachi 10]

I'm a little confused. Were there changes to the ME or not? It sounds like there were but the post on the update release says there weren't.

As always this update is save game compatible, you will not need to start a new save game for this to work in your game. We are aware there are some issues which have not been fixed which we are still looking into, the most notable of which is the crash which sometimes occurs on the individual training screen. For the time-being we ask users not to use that screen until we can give it the all-clear. Also there are no match engine changes included in this build other than optimisation.

The list contains the following fixes:

MATCH ENGINE

- Improvements to goalkeeping

- Improved goals from direct free kicks

- Fixed consistently, unrealistic high scorelines in lower leagues

- Fixed skin tone issues

- Fixed headed backpasses leading to goals

- Reduced own goal levels

- Hundreds of other changes to match AI

- Further polish to animations

So are all the comments on the last two pages some sort of placebo effect?

[luka_zg 153]

Have the player ratings been toned down. Whenever I play not so good,before would be 6.7's and a couple of 6.6 and 6.5's..now it seems they are mostly 6.6' and under? Anybody noticed it?

[themadsheep2001 7,373]

I'm a little confused. Were there changes to the ME or not? It sounds like there were but the post on the update release says there weren't.

As always this update is save game compatible, you will not need to start a new save game for this to work in your game. We are aware there are some issues which have not been fixed which we are still looking into, the most notable of which is the crash which sometimes occurs on the individual training screen. For the time-being we ask users not to use that screen until we can give it the all-clear. Also there are no match engine changes included in this build other than optimisation.

The list contains the following fixes:

MATCH ENGINE

- Improvements to goalkeeping

- Improved goals from direct free kicks

- Fixed consistently, unrealistic high scorelines in lower leagues

- Fixed skin tone issues

- Fixed headed backpasses leading to goals

- Reduced own goal levels

- Hundreds of other changes to match AI

- Further polish to animations

So are all the comments on the last two pages some sort of placebo effect?

There were match engine changes, thats text used from 15.0.2 which didnt contain them.

[stephen123 10]

My results since the update;

4-2-3-1 narrow, standard, flexible no individual instructions whatsoever.

Them kinda results are so desirable Holman

[dsch 10]

Updated UI looking much better. Less transparency makes the text more readable, and no more blinding news screens.

Edit: Also, something else seems different about the UI. It looks more ... solid, somehow. And the clicks not registering on the team shouts window problem seems to have been fixed. Now to see if it remembers match widget locations ...

Edit 2: It remembers! May I never complain again, until next year. (Except about the tactics screen.)

[Tali 10]

Am I the only one having issue with existing saves?

Sluggish response times.

Takes ages for clicking something to actually do what it's supposed to do.

Menu's opening themselves

Help windows popping up without being prompted and no way to close them.

Stuff like this is really fecking up my game

Same issue here. Especially the back button is painfully slow, I use him all the time so a fix would be nice. No issues with 15.0.2.

[Dan_B94 10]

Whats the difference between the Balon d'Or and World Player of the Year?

[dsdomestic 10]

1st game with newest update lost 5-3 away to the mighty Southport... 2 goals conceded via direct free-kicks... and I noticed an 'offside' where the ball was played backwards

It's a funny old game!

[stephen123 10]

Them kinda results are so desirable Holman

Btw noticed the skin. I've been meaning to look for a new one as the dark skin is doing my head in. Is that Helvatica Light from FM scout?

[akkm 230]

Credit where credit is due...well improved on last version of match engine...tidier, more fluid with an all around better flow to the match

As Kriss mentioned earlier tho with match engine improvements being achieved hour to hour we can expect great things between now and release on Friday along the lines of

- more improvement to tighten up first touch/control

- enhanced depiction of players technical/mental attributes ie how they manifest themselves in match and difference more noticeable between high end players down the line to lower league

- improved play through the middle in terms of through balls/pass selection/pass weighting

- even less slidiness of play

- players turning on the spot less cumbersome/slow motion

- less effectiveness of crossing...don't know if you have stats but still most effective way to score albeit definitely overall play has improved. Any stats on conversion rates from crosses/wide play Vs through the middle ??

- reduce the impression of some of movement/flow of the match speeding up in certain blocks of play

To be honest more or less all of above have been improved on last beta and last year but again even more improvement between now and release will naturally be welcomed by all and will result in a quality match engine and excellent progress on last two years

[urbanjunkie 0]

ME is amazing. Still picking up a ridiculous amount of knocks and injuries. Needing to make 3 subs per game, could do with 4 subs. Have done nothing different in pre-season. Is the game very sensitive to training intensity? Anyone experiencing similar issues?

[HaroldHammond 13]

Why is the closing down so lacklustre? Is it impossible to achieve what so many teams in real life are doing now? Playing a high pressing game - and not just the top teams like lots assume. Southampton, Rayo Vallecano, Celta Vigo, Marseille, Chile etc etc. are all doing it.

Much More Closing Down, Much Higher Defensive Line, Offside Trap etc - I waited for the tactic to become fully fluid before judging but the closing down is still basically walking up to the opponent with possession whilst flailing their arms about a bit. There's just no intensity to it what so ever. There's a bit of pressing after the immediate loss of possession, albeit still lacklustre, but I'm talking about when opponents are constructing play (trying to build up). By the time they develop play into our half of the pitch, we become a parked bus. Not what I expect from the instructions I'm using.

yep agree with this

[Sunderland AFC 30]

Still seemingly too many goals.

6,5 and 7 in the 3 games after the update.

Defences are just dreadful

[jc1 300]

Started my save after thenew update, so far the ME graphics in game are a huge difference, no skating around and generally sharper all round.

Now the down side...........corners or crosses come in and the ball is pinging around like a pinball machine before it careers into the net either off my player or the opposition, all too often.

Players still to slow on the uptake when opposition player is around them, they don't seem to know what to do and when they figure it out, the ball is kicked away.

Replayed the 1st 3 games from this save 3 times because during these games I received 2 serious injuries and 3 minor 3-4 week ones, so the injuries seem to have got worse.

Scoring which was far too high has now gone the other way, low scoring boring and too many draws, same tacics but different looking team.

[Ben Delat 10]

Same issue here. Especially the back button is painfully slow, I use him all the time so a fix would be nice. No issues with 15.0.2.

Glad I'm not the only one, kinda making the game unplayable for me, more issues are starting to come up, like the scroll bar getting stuck. Longer loading times on matches etc.

[dsch 10]

On the tactics screen, it looks like players in the starting lineup who have been swapped are now in a different colour. Quite useful. Is that intentional?

[Bill_Strevros 10]

Excellent update, keep up the great work. Final version is going to brilliant, best ever by a mile

[Freakiie 386]

Is it just me or does pretty much every player ask for compensation on a transfer? I've played with HSV, Hertha and Stuttgart so far, so not clubs with astronomical wages, but everytime I actually got an acceptable offer for a player (which is rare enough as it is already), the player asks me to compensate up to 50% off his remaining salary. Considering how hard it is to sell players outside your main 11 already this is getting ridiculous.

[dsch 10]

Does it happen for anyone else that, on changing some times in the in-match shouts window, the game will (maybe half the time) flash "making tactical changes" about three or four times before the change is made?

[Domoboy23 183]

I've just had a 23 degree game in December in sunny Boston! Would you need a .pkm for this?

[wilfy_1979 10]

HAHA i laughed at this, same here mate..